


Naught for Death but Toys

by the_rck



Series: When the Heroes Fall [2]
Category: Rurouni Kenshin
Genre: Alternate History, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Alternate Universe - Dark, Gen, In Hiding, villains win
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-07-12
Updated: 2017-07-12
Packaged: 2018-12-01 02:55:15
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,763
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11477136
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/the_rck/pseuds/the_rck
Summary: What everyone else was doing during "Another Year of Candlelight."Possibly permanently incomplete.





	Naught for Death but Toys

**Author's Note:**

> Title from "Upon a Dying Lady," a poem by W.B. Yeats.
> 
> Kaoru's not tagged as a character because she doesn't say or do anything substantial in what I've written so far. If I write more, she's likely to be a major character.
> 
> All of the stuff with Saitoh Hajime is very, very heavily in the realm of 'History what history?' in as much as it doesn't fit the historical figure at all well, not even as well as the version in canon does. The rest of the series will also be very 'History what history?' but not quite as much given that the Rurouni Kenshin canon is already an alternate history that only just sort of fits the gaps in real world history.
> 
> The first section in this comes chronologically later than anything else I've written for the universe, but it seemed as if it belonged first.

Incomplete intelligence sabotages as many operations as failure of nerve or lack of skill, and I found myself facing an unexpected variable impinging on my carefully planned scenario through a gap I should have noticed. Shinomori Aoshi, sometime Okashira of the Oniwabanshu.

I'll tell this my own way or not at all. I already know how the story comes out. You're the one who asked.

Better. A cigarette and sake would make it better still. Ah well, too much to ask I suppose. At least right now.

Shinomori Aoshi. I'd encountered him once, briefly, in Tokyo. He was threatening the lady doctor, wanting to know where the Battousai had gone. I told him. I thought the Battousai would prefer her to remain alive. If I'd simply killed Shinomori then, I'd have saved us all a great deal of trouble.

I never promised you'd like what I have to say, and I've never pretended that my values march with yours. You know that I'm right. Can you even pretend that he's better off as he is now?

After Tokyo, I heard nothing further of him, and I had other concerns. You're familiar with the affair of The Purgatory; there are no secrets there. The Battousai accepted Shishio's challenge for the three of us, committing us, me, him and Sagara, to a formal duel at a time and place of Shishio's choosing.

Sagara faced the first opponent and surprised all of us by winning.

The monk's revelation that the Aoiya was under attack did not, I think, come as a surprise to any of us. Himura seemed resigned to it, and I'd counted on it. Anji either didn't know or didn't think he needed to mention Soujiro's special mission. I rather think he didn't know.

I accepted the next challenge. Himura showed his fear of what might be happening at the Aoiya by leaving me to fight unwitnessed. A slight bit of hypocrisy that told me that events were progressing according to my plans. The Battousai was never closer to the surface than when others were threatened, and he chose to leave a wolf alone to make his kill. And I did. For one like him, it's a short step from allowing others to kill to killing himself and a long one from being rurouni to turning his back while another man, even a worthless one, is slain.

After the fight was over, I spared some thought as to who the third opponent might be. I knew that Soujiro was the only one Shishio had who might delay Hiko, so, despite Himura's expectations, the boy could not be his opponent. Chou was possible except that Himura had already defeated him once. Chou's opinions of the others didn't lead me to think any of them a worthy opponent for the Battousai.

Yes, I was expecting Chou to be there. You don't really think he escaped without at least a little assistance? I wanted the Battousai, and I needed Shishio to know how to call him forth. It was easy enough to let Chou overhear the details I wanted passed on. Shishio's actions to that point had shown clearly that he had no understanding of the man his predecessor had become, and Shishio was always a fool about such things. I didn't want him to botch it. I knew I could elicit the Battousai, but I wanted to be able to work with him after, so I couldn't let him see my hand in it.

Of course he knows now. He'd not have pursued me so far or with such diligence if he didn't.

I arrived at Shishio's dueling arena shortly after Himura and his party. My map of the place let me select a reasonable place to watch and wait. I expected the Battousai to triumph, but I wanted to be ready if he failed. The wounds on my legs troubled me somewhat as I knew they would interfere with my making full use of my Gatotsu, but as I said, I expected the Battousai to triumph. Shishio wanted to face his predecessor as he was during the Civil War without having any real understanding of who the Battousai was or might have become. I'd given him the tools, and I knew he'd use them to summon forth his executioner.

Shishio suffered from the belief common to so many who encountered Himura that the rurouni was not real and that defeating the rurouni was not the same thing as defeating the Battousai. That's one area in which Shinomori actually came out ahead.

Even a fool is right sometimes.

Of course he’s a fool. And a madman. He can see you, in the flesh, and still think you’re dead.

I am sorry for that. A little. If I’d known he was coming to the Aioya, we might have waited for him. Perhaps. I wasn’t sure who Shishio would send to make sure the job was finished. As it was, we were lucky the three of you survived, lucky to find Hiko, lucky that, though Soujiro thought he’d finished the job, Hiko still lived.

Yes, well, Soujiro was in a hurry. That’s why he didn’t bother to make sure he got the right woman. Any one of you would have done. I think it served Shishio’s purpose better that Soujiro didn’t take Kamiya. Even if it did mean the three of you survived.

At any rate, Shishio viewed the rurouni as Himura's way to make fun of the rest of us.

At least I knew better. The rurouni was Himura's way of trying to make the world what he wanted it to be rather than what it is. He was hiding from himself, and the rest of the world had nothing to do with it. That's why the rurouni was so fragile a mask. Had Himura been mocking us…

Because Shishio never understood Himura, he could not easily manipulate him. If Shinomori had controlled himself, if Himura had not been injured badly, if Sagara had escaped… If. That day, that confrontation, I have no better nor less tragic word for it. If.

I don't suppose you'd reconsider on that cigarette? No. Well.

There's irony for you— Of all the times, of all the ways I imagined this conversation, I never thought I'd have it with you.

Do you think I'm an idiot? When I dragged the three of you out of the wreckage of the Aoiya, this confrontation became almost inevitable. I just thought it would be the boy.

Because Himura owned his soul. Because he was the one most betrayed. Kamiya understood that any man can fail. That's why she could do what she had to do to keep you alive.

No. I don't think she knows. I don't think she wants to know. At least not yet. Killing me would make too many things unravel.

Of course I expect you to consider that, Okashira of the Oniwabanshu. However angry you may be…

I'm impressed. Sending Shinomori after me was a master move. Neither of you could take me alone. Just how did you get him to agree to such dishonorable tactics?

I see. Do you think—? Yes, well… Later.

For a little while, I expected to have this conversation with Hiko. If I were prone to nightmares, I'm sure he'd have haunted me for weeks. But political expediency isn't part of his idiom. I think that questioning what happened never occurred to him.

Takani was another matter. She did turn up in my dreams a time or two.

Not like that. Sending her into Shishio's household was a brilliant ploy, but it was also, like most such things, an immense gamble. For weeks, I kept expecting to wake up with her knife at my throat or, worse, at Tokio's throat.

Yes, I admire her. Think about it. You and Kamiya have sacrificed in order to become warriors. Takani has sacrificed every bit as much in order to rejoice in the title of whore. She loved both of those men as they used to be. Could you live with Shinomori now? Could you bear it?

Perhaps some day you'll get to meet her. I hope we all live that long.

Do you have any concept of how much damage a competent doctor can do? Understanding how to alleviate pain requires understanding how it is inflicted, and Takani's compassion is matched by her ruthlessness. I think Kamiya could explain that to you. If Takani had decided to turn on me, she'd have used Tokio and the children; she understands that rules are for mundane situations. In a choice between rule and right…

I know. They're kin of a sort to you now. Part of the same pack, if you care for the wolf metaphor. I did that deliberately for their protection. And for yours.

If I hadn't, what do you think they'd do if they found out about this little interlude?

*****

Tokio regarded her husband with some concern as she poured his tea. This was their first moment alone since her arrival, and she got the impression that he didn't want to talk to her. She kept her expression serene until her husband had tasted the tea and offered approval with the smile no one else recognized for what it was.

"So, husband," she began, looking down at her hands with respectful modesty. "I have packed, and I have moved. I have dismissed all but the most trusted servants and traveled here with great care and secrecy, bringing all of the children with me." Now she looked up. "Just what have you gotten us into?"

Her husband set down his teacup. "You didn't need to know," he stated flatly.

She raised an eyebrow. "I note the past tense."

The silence stretched between them. She kept her eyes on his face, and he looked at a corner of the room without seeming to actually see it.

Finally, she sighed. "If you wanted a wife who would leave it at that, you should have married my sister after all." She looked away, feeling a slight pang of guilt. Normally, she wouldn't escalate so quickly; mentioning Sakura was hardly fair at this point. But she was tired, and she did need to know now, before she faced those strangers again in the morning.

"I'm sorry, Tokio-chan." There was no anger, not even irritation, in her husband's voice. "I miscalculated. You and the children are all greatly at risk now."

She waited. Now that he'd started, he'd probably continue.

"You know what I think of the current government," he began.

She nodded and wondered if it was the police from whom they were now hiding. She discarded the notion after no more than a second. The four she'd met today would never be her husband's choice in co-conspirators. Not even his allies' choice. Three of them were simply too young. The fourth, well, she didn’t have a solid reason for her opinion, but she was sure she wasn’t wrong.

"There's been a… difficulty for the government. One of their old assassins, from the Bakumatsu, has come back. They feared him so much they tried to kill him once they didn't need him any more." His voice held a certain grim humor. "They botched it of course. Very messily. This man, Shishio, has built an organization and started appropriating bits of the countryside. He's been watching the government, killing the competent officials and letting the fools run around in panic.

"I'd been looking for a while for an opportunity like this. Those deaths, that panic, properly used…" His fingers twitched minutely, and she almost smiled. Whatever her husband's mistake, it hadn't prompted him to abandon his ambition to reshape the government. "Then they gave me the last piece I needed. Okubo Toshimichi told me where to find the Battousai."

Tokio covered her mouth to contain a small gasp. Among all the fears that had haunted her during the Civil War, the thought of her husband fighting the Battousai had been the worst. Her husband might be a legend in his own right, but she knew him as a man, fallible as any. She'd thought that fear gone.

Her husband reached over and pulled her hand from her mouth. He ran his thumb over her fingers. "He's just a man, Tokio. Just a man." His mouth quirked in a little smile. "He'd been living with the boy and the Kamiya girl, doing the cooking and the laundry while she took students to pay the bills, hiding himself as a nothing.

"I looked, and I gathered information. Then I tested him to see if the skills were still there. The true man, the Battousai, rose to the surface easily enough when he saw a real threat. I was certain he could be drawn out permanently given the right stimuli, and once he had emerged again, I thought I could use him, needed him, really. His very name has power, and he had a dream that is not what Japan has become. Break the Meiji, and he'd have to fight again.

"I thought Shishio could serve as threat enough, but… He'd come almost to the point and then balk, so I arranged a little push." He paused and released her hand. He turned his eyes away and then continued, "That's where I miscalculated, really. Something I hadn't expected happened, and the Battousai fell." His mouth twisted with just a hint of bitterness. "Fell stupidly and dragged his protégé down with him.

"Shishio still has his organization. He's lost most of his best warriors and his bureaucratic mastermind, but… I failed to kill him. The Battousai failed to kill him." He fell silent for a moment. His eyes narrowed, and his expression sharpened. "Those four and our children. That's all that's left. Hiko taught the Battousai; once he recovers, he can teach again. The other three are young and have had some training. I see potential there. They survived everything Shishio chose to throw at them."

Tokio frowned. There was great deal her husband wasn't telling her, she was sure. "Do the girls understand what you're asking? They seemed…" Grieved. Shocked. Not yet able to think. "If they begin without understanding, it may make trouble later."

Her husband began to wave her objection aside, then stopped and considered. "Very well. You explain it to them. Just do bear in mind that I need them."

She smiled at him. "As you wish."

****

Hiko Seijuro frowned as he watched his two students face off against each other. Instead of the smooth flow of the drills he'd assigned, he'd watched practice become spat become—

"Enough!" His tone was sharp enough that both students flinched a little, knowing that sparring had no place in this lesson. Hiko's frown deepened as he watched the boy strike once more, his blow frustrated by the fact that the girl had not dropped her defensive stance. Not that he could blame her; he wouldn't have done so either. However—

"Kaoru," he said mildly, "I have warned you against using Kamiya Kasshin moves during drills. 1000 karatake giri." He suppressed a smile as she bowed to him and moved away to begin; she, he was certain, knew exactly what he was really doing.

Hiko let his eyes rest for a moment on the source of the morning's discord. The boy's shoulders hunched just a little as he glared up at Hiko. Hiko rather thought the child resented having to look up at anyone. He kept his expression mild. "Yahiko," he began, then paused to allow his youngest student time to sputter at him.

The expected outrage didn't come which, Hiko rather thought, probably meant that Yahiko knew perfectly well that he'd behaved badly. "You are, I assume, aware that kata are normally performed without a partner."

Yahiko muttered something that Hiko couldn't quite hear but was fairly sure bore no resemblance to the called for "Hai, sensei."

Hiko frowned. "What was that, Yahiko? Tokio-san assured me that you were well enough to drill, but if your voice is gone already, she must be mistaken."

Yahiko scowled, muttered again, then said, "I can do anything she," a gesture at Kaoru, "can!"

Hiko suppressed a sigh. The boy looks so young! But, he reminded himself, he's older than Kenshin was. The thought didn't hurt as much as it might have, as much as it would later. Hiko smiled, an expression that Kaoru had already learned to take as a warning. "In that case, let's adjourn to a more hospitable space, and you can show me what you know."


End file.
